The McDonald Drug Store and Bakery, a two-storey fieldstone and brick structure built in 1893, is located mid-block among business outlets of similar scale on a secondary street in Virden’s commercial district. The municipal designation applies to the building and its narrow lot.
The building’s Romanesque Revival-style features illustrate the type of pragmatic two-part storefront buildings widely found in developing prairie centres, such as Virden, around the turn of the twentieth century. Especially noteworthy are its round-arched upper front windows, decorative brickwork, heavy masonry construction, including the use of local fieldstone. Attributes such as these suited various merchant-occupants over the years, including a long-time butcher shop and meat market, as well as the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which used the upper level as a meeting room and dance hall. It was later occupied by a video rental store and, in 2010, a restaurant. The building is a municipally designated historic site (2008).
McDonald Drug Store and Bakery (September 2020)
Source: George PennerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.84995, W100.93180
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Municipally Designated Historic Sites
McDonald Drug Store and Bakery, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch
This page was prepared by Tim Worth, Gordon Goldsborough, and George Penner.
Page revised: 26 January 2022
Historic Sites of Manitoba
This is a collection of historic sites in Manitoba compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. The information is offered for historical interest only.
Browse lists of:
Museums/Archives | Buildings | Monuments | Cemeteries | Locations | OtherInclusion in this collection does not confer special status or protection. Official heritage designation may only come from municipal, provincial, or federal governments. Some sites are on private property and permission to visit must be secured from the owner.
Site information is provided by the Manitoba Historical Society as a free public service only for non-commercial purposes.
Send corrections and additions to this page
to the MHS Webmaster at webmaster@mhs.mb.ca.Help us keep history alive!
